Patriots fall in 3

The Patriots had won seven straight matches.
But Thursday night they faced a team that is hoping to earn yet another state title this season.
The Class 3A No. 3 Bellmont Squaws ended the Jay County High School volleyball team’s winning streak, handing the Patriots a 25-24, 25-15, 25-10 loss in their final home match of the regular season.
Bellmont is the defending Class 3A state champion and also won the 2007 state title.
“With a great team across the net, I thought we played pretty well,” said JCHS coach Fred Medler. “We didn’t score tons of points, but we didn’t give up tons of points. They had to earn them.”
Bellmont (25-5) grabbed a 9-0 lead in the opening game thanks in large part to four kills from Payton Schultz, but the Patriots refused to go away quietly. They fought back to within 15-11 before Holly Hankerson served seven straight points to put the game out of reach.
Jay County (16-13) took a 5-1 lead in the second game, only to have Holly Hankerson again serve her team into the lead with the help of three kills from Bailee Hankerson. The Squaws controlled the third game throughout, getting five aces on the way to finishing off the sweep.
“They didn’t get down at the start,” said Bellmont coach Craig Krull of the Patriots. “Most teams could have just given up. But they had some fight. … They just played hard. I give them a lot of credit.”
Holly Hankerson racked up 15 digs and 10 kills to lead the Squaws. Schultz finished with 15 kills, Steph Shoup had 32 assists and Allison Gutierrez came up with 22 digs.
Seniors Jennifer Dirksen and Megan May each finished with nine digs for Jay County, which had won seven straight matches before falling to Bellmont. The team’s last loss was also to a state-ranked squad — Class 2A No. 2 Wapahani.
Dirksen also had three service points, and fellow senior MacKenzie Crawford notched four service points. Mariah Hornaday and Maria Murphy, both seniors, finished with six and five kills respectively.
“I can’t say enough about the seniors,” said Medler of the group that also includes Alyssa Rigby (six digs), Randa Gillespie (two digs) and Shannon Springer. “Obviously we’re going to lose a lot next year.
“They have been together for a long, long time. There’s a lot of them that came from Bloomfield (Elementary). … They understand each other. They have fun together. They get each other. They want each other to do well. They push each other hard. They’re just a lot of fun.”[[In-content Ad]]